Deuteronomy 32

Deuteronomy 32New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

32 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;let the earth hear the words of my mouth.2 May my teaching drop like the rain,my speech condense like the dew;like gentle rain on grass,like showers on new growth.3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;ascribe greatness to our God!

4 The Rock, his work is perfect,and all his ways are just.A faithful God, without deceit,just and upright is he;5 yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him,[a]a perverse and crooked generation.6 Do you thus repay the Lord,O foolish and senseless people?Is not he your father, who created you,who made you and established you?7 Remember the days of old,consider the years long past;ask your father, and he will inform you;your elders, and they will tell you.8 When the Most High[b] apportioned the nations,when he divided humankind,he fixed the boundaries of the peoplesaccording to the number of the gods;[c]9 the Lord’s own portion was his people,Jacob his allotted share.

10 He sustained[d] him in a desert land,in a howling wilderness waste;he shielded him, cared for him,guarded him as the apple of his eye.11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,and hovers over its young;as it spreads its wings, takes them up,and bears them aloft on its pinions,12 the Lord alone guided him;no foreign god was with him.13 He set him atop the heights of the land,and fed him with[e] produce of the field;he nursed him with honey from the crags,with oil from flinty rock;14 curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,with fat of lambs and rams;Bashan bulls and goats,together with the choicest wheat—you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.15 Jacob ate his fill;[f]Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.You grew fat, bloated, and gorged!He abandoned God who made him,and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.16 They made him jealous with strange gods,with abhorrent things they provoked him.17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,to deities they had never known,to new ones recently arrived,whom your ancestors had not feared.18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;[g]you forgot the God who gave you birth.

19 The Lord saw it, and was jealous;[h]he spurned[i] his sons and daughters.20 He said: I will hide my face from them,I will see what their end will be;for they are a perverse generation,children in whom there is no faithfulness.21 They made me jealous with what is no god,provoked me with their idols.So I will make them jealous with what is no people,provoke them with a foolish nation.22 For a fire is kindled by my anger,and burns to the depths of Sheol;it devours the earth and its increase,and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.23 I will heap disasters upon them,spend my arrows against them:24 wasting hunger,burning consumption,bitter pestilence.The teeth of beasts I will send against them,with venom of things crawling in the dust.25 In the street the sword shall bereave,and in the chambers terror,for young man and woman alike,nursing child and old gray head.26 I thought to scatter them[j]and blot out the memory of them from humankind;27 but I feared provocation by the enemy,for their adversaries might misunderstandand say, “Our hand is triumphant;it was not the Lord who did all this.”

28 They are a nation void of sense;there is no understanding in them.29 If they were wise, they would understand this;they would discern what the end would be.30 How could one have routed a thousand,and two put a myriad to flight,unless their Rock had sold them,the Lord had given them up?31 Indeed their rock is not like our Rock;our enemies are fools.[k]32 Their vine comes from the vinestock of Sodom,from the vineyards of Gomorrah;their grapes are grapes of poison,their clusters are bitter;33 their wine is the poison of serpents,the cruel venom of asps.

34 Is not this laid up in store with me,sealed up in my treasuries?35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,for the time when their foot shall slip;because the day of their calamity is at hand,their doom comes swiftly.

36 Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people,have compassion on his servants,when he sees that their power is gone,neither bond nor free remaining.37 Then he will say: Where are their gods,the rock in which they took refuge,38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices,and drank the wine of their libations?Let them rise up and help you,let them be your protection!

39 See now that I, even I, am he;there is no god besides me.I kill and I make alive;I wound and I heal;and no one can deliver from my hand.40 For I lift up my hand to heaven,and swear: As I live forever,41 when I whet my flashing sword,and my hand takes hold on judgment;I will take vengeance on my adversaries,and will repay those who hate me.42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,and my sword shall devour flesh—with the blood of the slain and the captives,from the long-haired enemy.

43 Praise, O heavens,[l] his people,worship him, all you gods![m]For he will avenge the blood of his children,[n]and take vengeance on his adversaries;he will repay those who hate him,[o]and cleanse the land for his people.[p]

44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua[q] son of Nun. 45 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them: “Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. 47 This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”

Moses’ Death Foretold

48 On that very day the Lord addressed Moses as follows: 49 “Ascend this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites for a possession; 50 you shall die there on the mountain that you ascend and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; 51 because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to maintain my holiness among the Israelites. 52 Although you may view the land from a distance, you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”

Psalm 103

Psalm 103New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

Psalm 103

Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness

Of David.

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,and all that is within me,bless his holy name.2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,and do not forget all his benefits—3 who forgives all your iniquity,who heals all your diseases,4 who redeems your life from the Pit,who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live[a]so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works vindicationand justice for all who are oppressed.7 He made known his ways to Moses,his acts to the people of Israel.8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.9 He will not always accuse,nor will he keep his anger forever.10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities.11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;12 as far as the east is from the west,so far he removes our transgressions from us.13 As a father has compassion for his children,so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.14 For he knows how we were made;he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for mortals, their days are like grass;they flourish like a flower of the field;16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more.17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlastingon those who fear him,and his righteousness to children’s children,18 to those who keep his covenantand remember to do his commandments.

19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,and his kingdom rules over all.20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,you mighty ones who do his bidding,obedient to his spoken word.21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,his ministers that do his will.22 Bless the Lord, all his works,in all places of his dominion.Bless the Lord, O my soul.

1 Thessalonians 2

Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica

2 You yourselves know, brothers and sisters,[a] that our coming to you was not in vain, 2 but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. 3 For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; 6 nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, 7 though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle[b] among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. 8 So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

9 You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters;[c] we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. 11 As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, 12 urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

13 We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers. 14 For you, brothers and sisters,[d] became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets,[e] and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God’s wrath has overtaken them at last.[f]

Paul’s Desire to Visit the Thessalonians Again

17 As for us, brothers and sisters,[g] when, for a short time, we were made orphans by being separated from you—in person, not in heart—we longed with great eagerness to see you face to face. 18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, wanted to again and again—but Satan blocked our way. 19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 Yes, you are our glory and joy!

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